Cognitive Behavioural Approaches for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders

The sequelae of sexual assault affect the psychological, emotional, social, interpersonal, and financial domains in the short and long term. Victim’s sexual assault can experience considerable emotional and psychological distress, such as depression. PTSD is a psychiatric label for a collection of psychological symptoms following a traumatic event. In addition, mental contamination is an internal, emotional feeling of dirtiness that may be evoked by unwanted thoughts and images, as well as by memories of negative events, such as sexual assaults. CBT-based therapy appears to be beneficial in reducing or treating victims of sexual assault suffering from PTSD and mental contamination. The paper outlines the cognitive theory of PTSD and mental contamination in order to demonstrate how this problem can be treated. Sexual assault constitutes both physical and mental violence, and it is not easily recovered from. Victims/survivors of sexual assault may experience severe anxiety, stress, or fear. This paper demonstrates some mental health problems that sexual assault victims may experience, with a specific focus on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mental contamination. Clinical experience and empirical studies have shown that many victims of sexual assault suffer from the distressing feeling of “contamination” for years or decades after experiencing sexual violence. This phenomenon is called mental contamination, and was first identified by Rachman (1994). Mental contamination is defined as the experience of contamination-related feelings of dirtiness in the absence of direct physical contact with a contaminant, and it is prominent among victims of sexual assault and patients with PTSD. Finally, the paper outlines the cognitive theory of mental contamination in order to demonstrate how this problem can be treated. In addition, the paper presents clinical guidelines for mental contamination based on cognitive behavioral therapy.